The buck, as they say, stops at the Resolute Desk - Except, of course, with Trump
Jim Wright
54 mins · Milton, FL ·
First up on the Monday Morning Trump Twitter Shitter Storm: Mike Flynn
This disingenuous nonsense is getting old fast.
1. General Flynn had a Top Secret (TS/SCI) clearance while on ACTIVE DUTY with the US Army.
He was, after all, in his final assignment, the Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. Prior to that, Flynn served in a variety of senior intelligence positions. His clearance was part of his job, and was initially granted during the REAGAN administration and renewed periodically under George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and finally Barack Obama. That said, granting of a security clearance while on ACTIVE DUTY is adjudicated by the investigative arm of the specific service branch, not the president.
2. No one (at least not seriously) has questioned Flynn's fidelity during his time on ACTIVE DUTY.
3. Flynn was forced into retirement a year early.
Flynn was forced into early retirement not for questions regarding his fidelity to the United States, but because HIS PEERS IN THE OFFICER CORPS were appalled by what he was doing to DIA. His management style was incoherent and described by senior officers as "chaotic." In his own words, Flynn felt like he was the ONLY officer in the US who knew what he was doing -- a bad, bad conceit in a general. He ended up at odds with the White House and was terminated -- or in the vernacular of General Officers, he chose to retire early.
Now, you can like or dislike Obama, but this is how it works under EVERY president. And you'd better be damned grateful that it does. This is how our country is designed. The military works for the elected civilian leadership. Generals serve the administration. Period. End of discussion. Flynn wasn't the first general fired by the President, nor even the most famous, and he won't be the last.
4. When Flynn retired, his clearance was suspended and became inactive and he no longer had access to classified material.
NOW:
IF Flynn then took a civilian government job (within a certain time period), his clearance could have been reactivated via certain administrative steps. That would have been the government's responsibility, specifically the hiring agency. It's a process, as anybody here who has been through it can tell you, including me.
IF Flynn had taken a non-government civilian job (within a certain time frame), say at a defense contractor, and that job required a security clearance, his suspended government clearance would have served as a starting point, but there is a complex, expensive, paperwork intensive, process that has to be accomplished FIRST. It can take a LONG time. This is the employer's responsibility. As anybody who's done it can tell you -- there are plenty of them here, including me.
But Flynn didn't do any of that. Instead, he started his own company, Flynn Intel Group, which provides intelligence analysis to various customers, domestically and foreign -- which the long way around of saying he essentially became a lobbyist for business and foreign interests. One of which was the Russians. There is NOTHING illegal about this (within certain bounds).
5. The Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs (AKA the National Security Advisor) is a senior presidential aide position in the Executive Office.
Senior AIDE.
That means the position is NOT confirmed by the Senate.
That means vetting, including full background checks and security review, for that position is SOLELY the responsibility of THE OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE, i.e. The President. Period. There is no ambiguity here.
Flynn had been retired for too long. His clearance could not be reinstated without a National Agency Check with Inquiries (NACI), i.e. a full background check. That's the law. As part of that process, Flynn was required to fill out the standard background check paperwork, a massive painful endlessly tedious form known to everybody with a clearance as the SF-86. NOW, here's the thing so pay attention: If you fail to disclose the required information on that form, if you lie either by action or omission, that is a felony. One of the requirements on that form is a detailed listing of foreign contacts. General Michael Flynn did NOT disclose his numerous contacts with various foreign entities INCLUDING RUSSIA. This is illegal.
Moreover, Flynn HAD to have known what he was doing. He was a general, the former Director of DIA, a senior intelligence officer, and he'd been filling out SF-86s for 30 years.
IF he had listed his foreign contacts NONE of this would be a problem.
But he didn't.
And he didn't DELIBERATELY.
Which makes you wonder why, or at least it should.
Additionally, it's come to light this morning that Barack Obama specifically cautioned Donald Trump about Flynn during one of their Oval Office meetings following the election. And it's readily apparent the new administration was aware of Flynn's Russian contacts prior to his appointment and despite the fact that Flynn failed to disclosure those contacts on his SF-86.
Responsibility for the Executive rests solely with the CURRENT occupant of that office and nobody else. That's the law. That's how it works.
The buck, as they say, stops at the Resolute Desk.
Except, of course, with Trump the buck stops anywhere but here.
With Trump, it's always somebody else's fault, somebody else's failure. With Trump, the first response every time is to deliberately misstate the situation and refuse to take responsibility.
Trump lacks the moral courage and the personal fortitude to take responsibility for anything, and his statement attachment below is proof positive of this failing. Character matters.
NEVERTHELESS, A PRESIDENT IS RESPONSIBLE.
Whether he accepts it or not, Donald Trump is solely responsible for Michael Flynn.
https://www.facebook.com/Stonekettle/posts/1331344410234292
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